Google on Wednesday announced a new addition to Gmail known as quick action buttons. These new buttons will “roll out over the next few weeks,” so don’t fret if you’re not able to see these new quick action buttons just yet.
You might be wondering what do these new action buttons do? These buttons appear next to certain types of messages in your inbox and let you take action on an email without ever having to open it. Let’s say that you received an email inviting you to a friend’s party, or restaurant reservation that you want to RSVP to, without reading that email or typing anything. The quick action buttons lets you do just that.
Google also mentions another example related to flight confirmation emails. When you open such an email, Google will automatically display all the important information about your flight right at the top of the email. You’ll quickly be able to see whether your flight is on time, when your connection is, and more without any scrolling.
Developers are also invited to add action buttons to Gmail, and more details for this are available at developers.google.com/gmail/schemas. Basically, there are two types of actions:
In-App Actions: In-App actions are handled inside Gmail, without sending the user to any other website. Such actions include One-Click Actions, Reviews and RSVP Actions.
Go-To Actions: These buttons can be used to provide a direct link to the page where the action can be performed. Go-To actions are displayed in an email as a button in the subject line. Clicking the button redirects the user to the page specified by in the action definition.
Google says that the company plans to add more action buttons in future. Now it is onto developers to implement these buttons in the email.
